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Alabama out of Top 5 for first time in 4 years

Alabama head coach Nick Saban disagrees with a call in the second half of Saturday's Iron Bowl in Auburn, Ala. The host Tigers upset the Tide, knocking them out of the AP Top 5 for the first time in 68 polls.

AP photo, Chris Shimek

Posted
Monday, December 2, 2019 9:19 am

By RALPH D. RUSSO

Alabama dropped to No. 9 in The Associated Press college football poll, snapping the Crimson Tide’s record streak of 68 appearances in the top five.

The top four teams in the AP Top 25 presented by Regions Bank were unchanged, with LSU at No. 1, followed by Ohio State, Clemson and Georgia.

The Buckeyes gained on LSU after their blowout victory at Michigan, receiving 19 first-place votes. The Tigers had 40, down 10 from last week. Clemson received three first-place votes.

Utah moved up to No. 5, followed by Oklahoma, Florida and Baylor.

The Crimson Tide lost to Auburn in a wild Iron Bowl on Saturday to give it two regular-season losses for the first time since 2010. The four-spot drop by Alabama broke a string of top-five appearances that began Nov. 8, 2015.

The week before the Tide’s run started it had been seventh, and it had been as low as 12th earlier that season. Alabama passed the old record for consecutive top-five appearances of 55 by Miami (Oct. 8, 2000-Oct. 26, 2003) last season.

Wisconsin moved up three spots to No. 10 after routing Minnesota. The Gophers dropped six spots to No. 15.

POLL POINTS

Alabama could still finish ranked in the top five with a victory in its bowl game, but it would need some losses by teams ahead of it to make that big of a jump. There will be one more regular-season Top 25 after next weekend’s conference championship games and then the final poll after all the bowls and national championship game have been played.

The last time the Crimson Tide finished a season outside the top five was 2013, when it lost the Iron Bowl on the famous Kick-Six and then dropped the Sugar Bowl to Oklahoma.

Other notable top-five streaks:

55 — Miami, Oct. 8, 2000-Oct. 26, 2003 (30 weeks at No. 1).

48 — Alabama, Preseason 2011-Dec. 8, 2013 (25 at No. 1).

48 — Oklahoma, Nov. 16, 1953-Nov. 11, 1957 (23 at No. 1).

48 — Ohio State, Preseason 1973-Sept. 20, 1976 (24 at No. 1).

Alabama did pass another milestone, extending its streak of consecutive weeks ranked to 210 (2008 preseason-present), moving past Florida for the third-longest streak in poll history. Florida was ranked for 209 straight weeks from Sept. 9, 1990-Oct. 5, 2002.

Nebraska has the longest streak at 348 weeks (Oct. 12, 1981-Sept. 22, 2002) and Florida State is second with 211 weeks (Sept. 24, 1989-Nov. 11, 2001).

IN

— No. 22 Virginia returned to the Top 25 after beating Virginia Tech on Friday to win the ACC Coastal Division for the first time.

— No. 25 Air Force is ranked for the first time since 2010. With Navy at No. 23, there are two service academies ranked at the same time for the first time since Oct. 14, 1985, when Air Force was No. 10 and Army was No. 19.

The Top 25 teams in The Associated Press college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 30, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking:<